While Nintendo managed to be profitable again in the first nine months of the fiscal year, it wasn't able to hit sales targets with its latest console, the Wii U.

For the first nine months of the fiscal year, Nintendo reported a net profit of 14.54 billion yen ($160 million USD) compared to a loss of 48.35 billion yen in the year-ago period. Revenue dropped 2.4 percent to 543.03 billion yen for the April to December 2012 period.

Profit was driven upward mainly due to lower production costs for its Nintendo 3DS handheld and a weaker yen.

For the three month quarter ending in December, Nintendo had sold 3.06 million Wii U consoles. It had previously forecasted sales of 5.5 million by March 2013, but has cut those predictions down to 4 million. It also cut Wii U software expectations by one-third to 16 million units.

Earlier this month, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said that the Wii U sales are "not bad," but also mentioned that it isn't flying off of store shelves as quickly as the original Wii (mainly due to problems like the popularity of mobile devices for gaming and the fact that this is the first time Nintendo has released two versions of a console at once).

The Wii U launched November 18, 2012. The Basic Set ($299.99) features 8 GB HDD, a Wii U Pad controller and it in comes in white. The Deluxe model ($349.99), on the other hand, offers 32 GB HDD, a Wii U Pad controller, power cradles for the Wii U Pad, an HDMI cable and it comes in black.

Nintendo also reduced sales expectations for its 3DS, from 17.5 million to 15 million for the fiscal year. Nintendo originally sought 18.5 million earlier in the year.

Looking forward, Nintendo cut its sales forecast by 17 percent to 670 billion yen ($7.4 billion USD) for the fiscal year to March 2013. It predicts an operating loss of 20 billion yen from an earlier projection of 20 billion yen profit.

I disagree strongly. I see mobile gaming as a NEW market. I don't really observe people sitting on their couch gaming on their tablet; or rather, those that do aren't saying "oh, now I don't need to buy a Wii/Xbox/PS3 or PC."

The WiiU is a good advancement, but it's not making the waves the original did with then-revolutionary control. Nintendo made a leap for 'core' gamers, but I think most are waiting either for their already-chosen platform or at least to see what the next half-year brings before jumping.

Next holidays the news will report that PC gaming is dead as next-gen consoles dominate sales (because they're new). Nintendo appears to be trying to improve its offering with more connectivity; MS has already committed to a unified phone/console/PC look; no idea what Sony has in mind.